The Douro Valley is perhaps the most beautiful wine region on earth. It is not for nothing that this region is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Very steep walls with terraces where the grapes bake in the sun, with the glittering river deep below.
Morgadio da Calçada is located in the village of Provezende, which has only 300 inhabitants. In this town there are 13 beautiful, monumental buildings dating from the 16th to the 18th century, Casa da Calçada is one of them. Built at the end of the 17th century by order of the influential judge, Jerónimo da Cunha Pimentel and recently purchased by Dirk van der Niepoort, one of the prodigies of the Port Wine world. Dirk not only releases Port under his own name, but also makes Port for the small house Morgadio da Calçada.
While many Port producers opt for ultramodern, industrial production methods, Dirk chooses to stay as close as possible to tradition. The fruit is picked by hand and then poured into large granite bins (Lagares). There the feet of the 'steps' take over. The soft soles of the feet do crush the grapes, but the seeds remain undamaged. This sugar-rich mixture will ferment until a low alcohol percentage is created. Then pure wine alcohol is added, so that the fermentation stops immediately. Port is born, lusciously sweet, powerful in color and full of natural extracts. Immediately after this 'mutage', the young wine goes to the barrel cellar for maturation.
They are one of the few port producers that allows all port wine to mature in wooden barrels, sometimes up to 100 years old. Because all wines are aged in wooden barrels, the wine is not so impressed when opened by the oxygen with which the wine comes into contact. The wine certainly does not have to be on the same day. Wine critic Hubrecht Duijker wrote about the 'ordinary' Ruby Reserve "You can't expect better than this.
